1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a locking device for locking a vehicle door, an engine hood, a trunk lid, a reclining seat back, and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
The vehicle has an opening/closing door, an engine hood, a trunk lid, a reclining seat back, and the like. The locking device is used for locking those components. An example of the rear seat of an automobile or a motor car of the sedan type is schematically illustrated in FIG. 20. The rear seat back is divided into two sections 1L and 1R, and those divided rear backs may be turned down onto the seat cushion 2 independently. An opening 3 is formed in the rear floor pan partitioning the trunk room. When the divided rear seat backs 1L and 1R are turned down to the seat cushion 2, the trunk room is opened into the inside of the car. To load the car with a long baggage, e.g., skis, that cannot be accommodated within the trunk room, the divided rear seat back 1L or 1R is turned down onto the seat cushion 2, and the long baggage is placed stretching over both the rear seat space and the trunk room.
In this type of the motor car, a striker 4 shaped like a bent rod is attached to the rear seat back or the car body. locking device 10 is attached to the seat back or the car body (not being attached with the striker). In the illustrated case, the striker 4 is attached to the car body, and the locking devices are attached to the rear seat backs 1L and 1R. To turn the rear seat backs 1L and 1R down onto the seat cushion 2, a lock-removal knob 11 of the locking device 10 is operated to remove the locking of the locking device.
To suppress an impact generated when the striker 4 is put into the locking device 10 and prevent a play of the striker 4 being locked, a buffering member, e.g., a cushion rubber pad, is generally assembled into the locking device. The buffering member will lose its buffering function by aging or wear. The striker 4 plays when its function is reduced or lost. Thus, the locking device using the buffering member is difficult in maintaining its product quality for a long time.
To cope with this problem, there is proposed a novel vehicular locking device which is provided with a striker pressing member which receives a thrust of the striker in a state that the latch plate being in press contact with the striker is held down in its turn.
In the above locking device, the striker pressing member is coaxially coupled into the locking plate for holding down the turn of the latch plate. Therefore, in manufacturing the locking device not requiring the striker pressing members and those requiring the same, it is difficult to increase a rate of the number of the component parts of the locking devices that may be used commonly for both types of the locking devices to the number of all the component parts thereof and it is difficult to reduce the manufacturing cost.
Also in the above device, the striker pressing member and the locking plate are coaxially assembled. Because of this, it is difficult to set the amount of turn of the striker pressing member as desired. To satisfactorily press the striker pressing member against the striker, it is necessary to use a spring having a large force to urge the striker pressing member against the striker.
The striker pressing member is disposed such that its turning center lies offset from the line representative of the advancing direction of the striker. Therefore, to obtain a pressing force dependent on a load acting in the same direction as of a play of the striker, a larger spring force is required for the spring for urging the striker pressing member against the striker.